Even before Barack Obama and John McCain started running for president, the adjunct faculty at PACE University got together and formed a union, the Union of Adjunct Faculty at Pace (UAFP). Unfortunately, as is often the case in the private sector, the administration didn't necessarily want to honor that overwhelming decision by its employees and began a long campaign of defer and delay designed to wear down the members of UAFP. 

But guess what?  UAFP formed a union to change how adjunct faculty were treated at Pace and they weren't backing down.  They were going to keep at it until they could establish an agreement that laid the foundation for the long-term improvement of adjunct faculty working conditions.  And finally, over four years later, they have a tentative agreement! 

John Palowski, President of UAFP, put it this way in a message to the membership:

Four and a half years ago an overwhelming majority of Pace adjunct faculty voted in favor of unionization. There were a myriad of reasons adjunct faculty formed a union including a desire for increased pay, hope for better job security, and a need for affordable health insurance.  [snip]

The UAFP Executive Council and the Bargaining Team believe this contract will make important inroads toward addressing many of the concerns that led us to form a union in the first place. As we all know, the work we do as adjunct faculty has been institutionally undervalued for decades. We hope that besides bringing us important improvements in wages and benefits and job security, this contract, in and of itself, will be the first step in increasing the professional respect that is so long overdue for adjunct faculty.

Obviously, the membership will be discussing the agreement as they move toward ratification, but for finally reaching this important step, we say congrats to the UAFP bargaining team and to all of those at Pace who held strong and worked through a very long and hard struggle to reach this first agreement.